


All the Wrong Traditions

by Nocturne1980



Category: Black Panther (2018), Black Panther (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Erik Killmonger, Alpha/Beta, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Shuri, Cousin Incest, Denial of Feelings, Don't Shoot the Writer, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Forced Marriage, Molestation, Obsessive Behavior, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Please Don't Hate Me, Rape/Non-con Elements, Shurimonger
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:35:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29133423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nocturne1980/pseuds/Nocturne1980
Summary: Shuri’s cousin Erik personifies all of the worst stereotypes about alphas. He doesn’t try to temper his alpha traits like her other family members. She’s sure glad she’s a beta and not an omega.
Relationships: Erik Killmonger/Shuri
Comments: 15
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Don't hate me. I love this pairing.

“Ayo, I don’t pay you to play video games with my daughter. You are supposed to be preparing the rooms for our guests.”

Just moments before her bedroom door was thrown open by her mother, Shuri was cleaning the floor with Ayo. It wasn’t the kind of cleaning Ramonda wanted the young maid to do at the moment, but beating Ayo in several rounds of old school Mortal Kombat was a better use of her time in Shuri’s opinion.

Ayo jumped up from her crossed legged position on Shuri’s bed and dropped the game controller behind her, looking appropriately abashed as she apologized and quickly darted past Ramonda to finish her tasks.

Ramonda, looking for all the world like the mate of a powerful alpha that she was, turned a narrowed gaze on her daughter.

“The first guests will arrive within the hour and you’re still not dressed.”

Twice a year Shuri’s mother became a complete and utter tyrant as she prepared their home to receive their extended family. These gatherings were held two times a year during the biannual lunar eclipses, a throwback from times when people actually thought alpha and omega designations were a result of some wolf god who imparted blessings to those who brought worthy sacrifices. Of course, worthy meant violence and blood. Which really boiled down as an excuse for the alphas of her pack to take any mature omega, whether she wanted it or not.

It was fucking antiquated is what it was and Shuri couldn’t wait to part ways with her family’s crazy traditions. Most of the developed world no longer operated under pack systems. People weren’t beholden to alphas who just so happened to control all the land and wealth of the area they were born in. Only the old wealthy families stubbornly held onto these traditions.

Shuri was going to university in the fall. If she’d presented as an omega her family would have never agreed to it. Only beta women got to break free. People usually presented during the beginning of puberty. Her brother had when he was thirteen. Her cousin Erik even earlier than that at eleven. Shuri never showed the telltale signs that would mark her as an omega and trap her in virtual slavery to her pack for life. She was blessedly beta and in a few months, she was going to join the rest of the modern world and escape a pack that normalized barbaric acts.

She just had to endure one more lunar ritual. One more senseless event where she spent most of the time trying her damnedest to avoid her cousin Erik and the rest of her pack who ignored the predatory and totally inappropriate way he behaved with a known beta.

“I _am_ dressed.” Shuri looked down at her Deadpool Pikachu shirt and favorite pair of worn jeans.

Her mother was not amused.

“If you can’t do what’s expected of you then maybe you aren’t mature enough to go off on your own.”

It was a common threat employed after Shuri received her college acceptance letter. One guaranteed to get her to fall in line and one that stirred up such resentment that she fantasied about never coming back to visit after she left for college. The way alphas and even higher ranking omegas used whatever means necessary to exert their will on other members of the pack was something to be ran from, not endured.

She changed as her mother requested, but she grumbled and complained quietly the entire time. She didn’t want to wear the stupid dress that was a tradition for all unmated females. Being a beta she shouldn’t have to participate at all but the dress really was too much. Shuri hated dresses. She felt vulnerable in the wispy thin material that was stark white, a symbol of her purity. She planned on taking care of that as soon as she got on campus. It didn’t have to be with anyone she cared about either because getting rid of her virginity was at the top of her bucket list of proverbial 'fuck yous' to her pack and a lifetime of smothering restriction.

The first guests arrived as Shuri came down the wide polished staircase, dragging her feet. Her mother’s eyes flared at the scuffed sneakers Shuri wore, a minor rebellion she was sure to pay for later. Dutifully she stood next to her mother as she greeted the guests and took note that T’challa didn’t have to do the same. He was out back having drinks with their father and the other alphas that slowly trickled in.

The falseness of it all was exhausting. For all of their pleasantries and civil exteriors, Shuri knew that tomorrow night during the ritual they would shed the illusion of being anything other than the backward and closed minded animals that they were.

Pack didn’t hug like normal rational humans did. They sniffed each other. It was a way of telling who was what designation and where alliances were formed and broken.

Nakia approached her, wearing a similar white dress, and leaned in politely so they could quickly sniff each other’s necks in greeting.

“Didn’t you luck out,” Nakia said, smiling brightly and triggering Shuri out of her bored hauteur.

Betas were rare in packs. It was all that inbreeding that produced generation after generation of mostly alphas and omegas. When Shuri completed her degree she was going to settle down with a nice safe beta and increase the chances that her children would turn out normal just like her.

“Don’t pretend you’d switch places with me,” Shuri said. Everyone knew Nakia and T’challa were crazy about each other. It was part of the reason her mother was so insistent that everything was perfect this eclipse. Her oldest was going to be mated and Nakia would officially come to live with them to become a part of their immediate family.

“No, but I’m happy for you.”

Darting a quick glance to make sure her mother was too preoccupied to notice, Shuri grabbed Nakia’s hand and guided her away from the foyer towards a more secluded part of the mansion where they could talk without fear of being overheard.

“I got in,” Shuri said proudly. Nakia squealed in genuine delight.

“Oh, Shuri. That’s amazing. What did your alpha say?”

“My _father_ didn’t have much to say. I think he’s just happy I’m going to be doing something with my life rather than embarrassing him by staying at home mateless.” Shuri refused to call her father her alpha. No one was her alpha and she’d stick to the way normal people addressed their fathers.

It was true though. Her father couldn’t compel her to mate if she wasn’t an omega. A mateless female over the age of twenty was unheard of. A beta daughter had to voluntarily pick a mate and a mateless beta female was something to ridicule and pity. Sending her off to college was a relief to her father. Her mother was another matter.

“I’m sure your mother didn’t share his acceptance.”

Nakia knew her family so well. She was going to do great as T’challa’s mate. She was an expert at navigating her mother’s moods and her father already loved her like a daughter.

“She thinks college is a waste of time. That I’ll come to my senses when I’m old and lonely but by then it’ll be too late to pop out babies for whatever alpha they can pay that will have me.”

Nakia’s eyes widened in shock. “She said _that_?”

Shuri nodded. “I don’t care. I’m going to prove them all wrong.”

The young women talked about their plans for the future until T’challa found their hiding spot, snatching Nakia away and leaving Shuri to figure out how she was going to sneak back upstairs to her room to play video games without running into either of her parents who would make her stay and mingle with their pack. Her mother probably had a servant posted near her bedroom to report if Shuri tried to enter.

The wine cellar seemed as good a place as any to hide out for the few hours it’d take before everyone sat down in the mansion’s massive dining room to have dinner. Too bad there wasn’t anything to pop a cork with or she’d have more to do than lay back on one of the short storage lockers that housed bottles of expensive vintage.

She drifted off to sleep, the quiet darkness and the cool air of the cellar making it an irresistible nap tonic. Sometime later she was startled awake by the echoing click of footsteps coming down the cellar stairs. Great, either her mother had found her or a servant was coming to grab a few bottles for dinner which was the same as her mother finding her. Shuri pushed herself up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes so she could focus better.

But it wasn’t her mother or one of their servants' faces that broke through the darkness to stand in the dim light near the shelf she was perched on.

“Hey cuz. You weren’t there to greet me. Thought you’d already jumped ship to your little university.”

Erik’s tone was laced with derision, his full lips smirked arrogantly and oh so annoyingly alpha. Women in the pack didn’t get educated beyond what was necessary to be good obedient mates. So far Nakia was the only one who showed any degree of approval of her chosen path.

Shuri felt the unnatural urge to growl. Who was he to belittle her accomplishments? She hated the way he always treated her like she was some adorable pet there for his amusement alone. The way his eyes raked her lustfully even when there were people around to see. There were no witnesses to see him do it now and he lingered on her exposed thighs, making her uncomfortable enough to nervously pull her hem lower and snap her knees closed.

Erik stepped closer, his big body blocking out some of the light.

“I go in the fall. I’m studying physics.” Let him chew on that. Physics wasn’t a coaster major.

“I heard.” He took another step forward blocking her from jumping down and Shuri became aware perhaps too late, that she should have darted when she first realized who’d joined her. Even though she never presented as an omega, she was raised to behave like one. Never make a scene. Never disrespect an alpha. Her eyes danced from his face to just over his shoulder where her escape lay.

“Beauty and brains. My parents think it’s the crime of the century.” He brushed his thumb down her chin, the gesture a mockery of how children were tweaked by adults. “That you turned out beta.”

It took all of her willpower not to allow her nervousness to manifest as shaking. Erik was good at making her feel like a scared cornered rabbit, her heart racing a mile a minute as the wolf closed in. She snatched her face away from his hand when he reached for her chin again.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a beta.”

His smirk deepened at her attempt to elude his hand. Instead of reaching for her face again, he settled both of his palms with immovable weight on her knees, widening them with hardly any effort on his part even though she used all of hers to keep them closed. She couldn’t stop herself from whimpering as she tried, still conditioned enough not to lash out at him with noise or violence. He was an alpha. He could easily hurt her if wanted.

Once her knees were spread far enough to let him wedge his hips between them, he did, a soft purr of satisfaction slipping out.

“But my parents were still disappointed. Were yours?”

Her response lay locked in her throat, choked, when his hand crept up the side of her thigh and under her dress. All she could do was shake her head no, a lie, as he drew his fingers down and back up her leg, tilting his head to the side to watch her reaction. Goosebumps blossomed every inch of exposed skin.

He’d stop, eventually. He always did. If she just stayed quiet enough and didn’t provoke the part of his nature that enjoyed the chase. She learned a long time ago that he liked when she put up a fight. She could only win by pretending she wasn’t afraid and ignoring the things he did.

He grunted his disbelief, pinching her leg for her untruth and getting the noise from her he was after.

“You know, betas aren’t so bad. They’re not as needy as omegas. None of those annoying heats that demand attention. You have to keep omegas locked up when that shit happens or end up fighting off every alpha stupid enough to challenge you for what’s already yours.” He said, watching his hand caress her like he was an artist in the midst of creating something worthwhile.

Every alpha wanted their own omega. A needy knot doll who did whatever they were told. Betas weren’t slaves to their biology and many alphas would prefer to go mateless rather than have one. It was considered unnatural to claim a beta. There were no such unions in their pack.

“I heard it’s fun to breed a beta. I heard their pussies are tighter than omegas'. Not really made to take a knot but can still manage. Is that true, cuz?” His voice lowered on his question, going husky and spicy like hot incense.

Terror flared, motivating Shuri enough to grab his wrist and stop his hand from inching to the v between her thighs. She thought presenting as a beta would keep her safe from Erik. No alpha wanted a beta woman. It was unthinkable in the pack.

“Erik, please.” Her voice was quiet but frantic.

“There it is.” Victory rang in those words, a smile creasing his handsome face. “You have no idea what it does to me to hear you beg at the same time you’re saying my name. Let’s hear it again.”

His hand snaked up, her grip doing nothing to stop him from cupping her mound with the warm heat of his palm.

“Please...don’t. Erik, please.” She was on the verge of tears, unwanted arousal making her damp as he pumped his hand with a sensuous squeeze, eyes shining with delight when he felt the wetness through her panties.

“I knew you’d be a beta. My own little beta bitch to-”

He ended his words at the sound of the cellar door opening and feet coming down the stairs. Shuri seized the opportunity and pushed him away from her, quickly getting down to put as much distance between herself and her lecherous cousin as fast as she could.

She spared no words for her mother as she raced up the stairs to the relative safety of the pack.


	2. Chapter 2

The dining room table could comfortably fit forty and her mother made sure that every seat was employed. The rest of the guests could be seen in the adjacent lesser diner room, just as resplendent and lavishly decorated.

No seat was occupied by coincidence. Shuri’s father sat at the head and everyone else was arranged according to their ranking in the pack. After tomorrow’s ritual, Nakia would join their family, so she sat next to T’challa. Shuri was between her mother and her uncle N’Jobu and next to him was his wife. Across the table and next to Nakia was Erik. Far enough away that she wouldn’t be forced to talk to him or endure whatever stolen touches he could manage if he was close enough.

Although she made a concentrated effort not to look his way, trying desperately to forget what had happened in the wine cellar just moments ago, Shuri could feel his eyes on her the entire length of the meal. Sure he engaged those around him in conversation, but she knew without a doubt that if she looked in his direction at any given moment he would be looking right back at her in that hungry challenging way he always did.

Shuri tried her best to not let it show how much his presence bothered her.

This was one of the many reasons why she needed to leave the pack. The roiling chatter of those around her and the feigned ignorance of those closest, all the while Erik was signaling loud and clear that he’d set his sights on her, and no one but her seemed to give a damn.

If she were an omega Erik would be chastised for his rudeness. He was marking her with his eyes. Staring for extended periods of time at an omega was as good as a declaration of intent to chose them as a mate. They all knew what he was doing. Shuri wasn’t the only one to take note and it left her seething. No one was going to say anything because Erik was not only an alpha, he was the only heir of an alphadom just as vast as her father’s. Besides, Shuri wasn’t an omega who needed to be protected. She was an oddball beta who would never really fit in.

Betas were commonplace in the modern world but in the elitism of pack, they were an anomaly. So rare that when one was born people hardly knew what to do with them.

Shuri’s designation wasn’t something the family openly talked about. It was a source of major embarrassment and everyone at the table had the decency to skirt around the issue, no one inquiring about her life beyond the mundane.

Shuri wasn’t ashamed. She was elated not to be stuck like Nakia or the other omega members of the pack. Their conversation seemed to center around the upcoming ritual and their excitement to start their mated lives, the height of achievement for any omega in a pack.

Between their mind-numbing choice of topic and Erik’s anxiety-inducing glares, Shuri had lost her appetite and was ready for it all to wrap up so she could get back to her room.

“You’re so quiet down there Shuri, it’s almost like you’re not here. What’re _your_ plans after the moon?”

She was forced to look at Erik after he made a point to raise his voice loud enough that she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t heard him. Some of the chatter died down and she found herself the focus of too much attention. Her mother stiffened next to her and Erik, damn him, lifted his eyebrows in a poor imitation of guilelessness. His eyes twinkled mischievously.

Her eyes darted to her mother whose jaw flexed with displeasure. Her father looked resigned to whatever storm was about to sweep through thanks to Erik’s prodding.

“I’ve been accepted into UC Berkeley. It has one of the top physics programs in the country,” Shuri said.

“You’re not going away to college to become one of those designationist, are you?”

Her mother sucked her teeth at Erik’s question. Shuri wanted the floor to open up and swallow her and at the same time, she wanted to hurl her plate at Erik’s face.

If she spoke aloud what she truly believed, that designationists were right, then she ran the risk of her parents’ wrath. They’d never let her go away if they thought she held such liberal ideas already and that they were sending her to a place where she’d be free to nurture and explore those ideas. She was a beta but she behaved like an omega for their eyes and for some strange reason they believed she’d behave the same once she was free from the pack.

All designations should be treated equally. Alphas didn’t deserve to rule over omegas and betas just because they were physically stronger and more aggressive. They were sneaky and manipulative too, as evident by Erik’s attempt to bait her.

“Those places are liberal cesspools,” her uncle N’Jobu said. “They take perfectly good omegas and ruin their minds, making them unmateable.”

“Not every omega wants a mate,” said W’Kabi, whose eyes were glassy from too much wine. “Lesbianism runs rampant on college campuses I’m told.” He chuckled at the end, not sounding at all disapproving of college omegas.

“Shuri,” Erik said her name with a sing-song lilt, enjoying how uncomfortable this conversation was making her. “Are you running away from the pack so you can live out your truth with all those nubile educated omega lesbians?”

“Erik,” his name was a reproach on her mother’s lips.

“What, auntie? I’m just curious. We all have an itch that needs to be scratched from time to time. Shuri’s going to be gone an awfully long time with no mate to see to her needs. Maybe...” he left the implication to hang in the air. Maybe she wasn’t a lesbian now but give it time.

It was the worst thing a female member could do to her pack. Be unproductive in increasing their numbers. To do so willfully was deplorable. He was playing on her parents' fears, pulling those fears from a dark corner and dragging them into the light for all to see.

“I think it’s hot,” W’Kabi chipped in. “Shuri, please send me an invitation to your school’s homecoming when it comes around.”

“Reckless foolishness. What happens when these omegas go into heat?” Chandra, Erik’s mother asked.

“They have clinics where unmated omegas can have their heats taken care of.” _Without worrying about being claimed_ , but Shuri left that part out.

“How progressive,” Erik said.

“I’m going to college to get an education, not scratch an itch. And even if that wasn’t the case I don’t see how it’s any of your business what I do and who I do it with. Betas don’t need a mate, remember. No heats. Thank God.”

By the reaction of those at the table, one would think Shuri’s response was more offensive than Erik’s crude probing into her life.

“Heats are a gift omegas give their mates,” her father said, drawing all eyes to him. “They’re not to be scorned but celebrated. Society wouldn’t thrive today if not for the biology some progressives want to deny or do away with. I went to university as a young man. There’s a lot of backward thinking that’s allowed there but it’s to be expected in the world of academia. Shuri will do fine. Just as long as she remembers who her loyalty lies with and doesn’t forget the traditions of the pack.”

Then he turned his eyes on his daughter. “You’re going to school to serve the pack ultimately. It doesn’t matter that you’re a beta, though I wish things had turned out differently for your sake. No need to be jealous of omegas. You’re my daughter, right?”

And that’s what it boiled down to for T’chaka. He was the head alpha, a virtual king, and she was his daughter. It was a reminder that she’d always be provided for and a warning that it was he who was paying for her education so she better fall in line.

After she nodded her head stiffly the conversation moved on to other topics. When the meal was finished Shuri made her way to her room with the excuse that she had a headache.


	3. Chapter 3

If Shuri hadn’t spent most of the night tossing and turning, repositioning her pillow like it could help her get to sleep, she wouldn’t have been awake to hear the sharply whispered voices outside her door.

Her brother asking someone what they were doing in a part of the mansion where the omega members of the pack were housed. A warning that the alpha, his father, would not be pleased if a claiming took place before tomorrow’s ritual, apart from their sacred traditions. Another warning that only those participating in the ritual could be taken.

It inevitably happened on each moon. A young alpha over-eager to have the omega he’d chosen for himself, sneaked to the wing where their omega guests slumbered, which also happened to be where Shuri’s bedroom was.

Erik’s voice responded, even lower than T’challa’s and with an air of menace. She was instantly fully awake and on edge.

“Is that it?” She could image the barely-there smirk on his lips as he spoke.

“I’ll be more specific. My sister is not participating in the ritual tomorrow. Stay away from her.”

“Or what? You gonna run and tell the alpha I’m breaking tradition? What’re _you_ doing over this way? Breaking tradition, too? Or do the rules not apply to the alpha prince?”

“I see the way you look at her. She’s not for you.”

“Is that what the alpha said?”

“It’s what I say.” T’challa’s voice was a hushed blade, sharp and quick. She imagined them both staring at each other, each alpha not willing to budge. Then she heard Erik snort.

“Big day ahead of us tomorrow. Better call it a night.”

T’challa gave no response to these flippant words. She could hear Erik’s retreating footfalls, then the movement of T’challa pausing at her door before heading off himself.

The simple exchange stole any chance that she could sleep the rest of the night. If she could lock her door that might have helped but her door lacked a lock and all of the furniture that was heavy enough to bar entry was also too heavy for her to move.

What if T’challa had not come to see his intended? What if he’d tarried just a bit longer in Nakia’s room? She didn’t want to think about the what-ifs but they raced through her mind nonetheless. As long as Erik was near her he would never stop trying to push for more ground. She wouldn’t be able to fully relax until this farce of a ritual was over and each pack member left to their respective territories.

_Dream…_

_Waves rolled in gently, cold white foam lapping at her bare feet. The ocean stretched out before her like rippling glass. This was her favorite part of the day. The sunrise over a seemingly endless stretch of ocean._

_The mornings here were as chilly as any back where she grew up. She peeled off the baggy sweater that fell to her knees, revealing the bathing suit underneath. The dawning sun grazed the skin of her stomach and her fingers traced the faint stripes there. The sweater was discarded in the sand. The ocean called._

_She jogged into the water until her feet no longer touched land, kicking back as her arms dove forward. Waves pushed her backward but she pressed on as if she could reach the sun breaking the horizon. The waves pushed and she pushed back, the effort her only destination._

_Finally, when she was too exhausted to go any further, she swam back. And wasn’t that a curious thing, because Shuri had never learned to swim._

_She watched her feet dig into the sand, gritty particles wedging between her toes. Salty water dripped from her hair down her face and down onto the tops of her feet._

“ _One day you’re going to meet a shark out there.”_

_A warm towel enfolded her from behind, followed by gentle brisk movements designed to rid her flesh of dampness._

_She smiled, standing still for his ministrations._

“ _Sharks don’t scare me.”_

“ _Nothing scares you.” He said without hesitation._

_That wasn’t true. A great many things scared her. She’d just learned the secret of not showing her hand. But this was a point of contention for them. He hated her early morning swims, had forbidden it, and even tried to actively block her from it. She bowed to him in most things but this was one thing she wouldn’t bend on._

“ _You scare me,” she said._

_He snorted behind her, rubbing the towel with more vigor until she was mostly dry._

“ _If you were scared of me you’d obey me.”_

_Shuri turned around and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her cheek against the plains of his muscled chest. He rewarded her efforts to placate him with a soft rumbling purr and she burrowed closer, savoring the unique vibrations passing from him to her._

“ _I should lock you up. It’d serve you right. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about a shark eating you.”_

“ _You already tried that, remember. Didn’t work then. Won’t work now.”_

_His good nature chuckle did things to the pit of her stomach, had it rocking and shifting like the waves behind them. The forehead kiss he gave her was warm and comforting. If she could, she’d purr right back. Instead, she closed her eyes and lifted her face up to instinctively bring her lips to his, not needing sight to get there._

“ _I love your stubborn ass,” he said, voice husky, hand cupping her cheek._

_Shuri smiled, filled with a buzzing happiness. She opened her eyes so she could look him in his eyes when she told him she loved him too. Loved him more than she thought it possible to love a person._

_Her smile froze then melted away when her eyes focused on the man holding her like a precious necessity._

“ _What’s wrong?” Erik’s familiar handsome face looked back at her, his brows draw together in a mockery of concern. He was a self centered bastard who only cared about what he wanted. In all her life she’d never seen him show even the slightest hint of concern for her, but his hand rubbed her back now in the soothing way her father did whenever they hugged._

_What shocked her more than the concern he was showing, so uncharacteristic of him, was the clear adoration shining from his eyes as he studied her. No consuming dark hunger. No possessive cruelty. Just something more powerful and infinitely more overwhelming._

“ _You’re not still worried over your brother visiting? I told you, T’challa and I took care of that beef.”_

“ _Drinks and pool...” The words came out of her mouth without effort. T’challa wanted to kill Erik but he wasn’t allowed to. It took some time but the two men finally came to an understanding over multiple rounds of drinks and a very heated and long game of pool._

“ _Pool...”_

_The beach faded away like a mist and Shuri was no longer being held in the embrace of her hated cousin. She was now sitting in the back row of a college lecture hall that was filled with students paying attention to the professor who had his back to them as he wrote on a massive chalkboard._

“ _Now, can I have a volunteer come down and solve this equation?”_

_No one responded, some students ducked their heads and tried to appear smaller in an attempt to avoid being called on._

_Shuri’s hand went up._

“ _Ah, a brave soul steps forth.”_

_She rose from her seat hesitantly, all of this so familiar and yet so foreign. There was no mistaking the annoyed glares from some of the other students, but when she finally stood before the professor he handed her the piece of chalk and smiled at her fondly._

_The equation took less than thirty seconds to solve and when Shuri handed the chalk back to the professor his smile brightened._

“ _You continue to amaze me, Ms. Brown. I know it’s just your freshman year but come see me after class. I want to talk to you about that TA position.”_

_Shuri preened under his approval. “Thank you Dr. Banner.”_

_As she was making her way back to her seat Dr. Banner called her name prompting her to turn around._

“ _You have a promising future Ms. Brown. If you want to keep it that way I advise you to avoid the upcoming pool party.”_

“ _What pool party?”_

_There were a few snickers from the class. Someone handed her a flier. She couldn’t make out the words on the multi-colored paper and as she tried an incessant beeping kept drawing her eyes up to find where it was coming from._


	4. Chapter 4

Shuri groaned and squeezed her eyes tight to keep the morning sun from doing more work than the beeping of her alarm clock. It was morning already? She groaned again, her body chastising her with heavy limbs and depleted energy stores from her restless night.

One eyelid lifted to take note of the time. Why didn’t she turn off her alarm clock last night?

Another groan and half peek at the now silent clock and Shuri pulled herself out of bed. No matter how tired she was, she’d never been able to remain in bed once she woke. Better to get up and see what fresh hell the day presented than to lay in bed and mull over a strange dream that left her shoulders tingling from the ghost caresses of dream Erik. She didn’t want to consider that in the dream she’d been wholly receptive, eager even, to his touch. In the dream, the rightness of being held in his arms had seemed all too real to not leave her with uncomfortable disconcert.

It took every bit of mental reserve to focus on the tasks of getting ready for the day instead of slipping back to thoughts of her dream. At least the first part of the dream. The second part didn’t trigger the need to bury her face in shame and confusion before she ran screaming through the halls.

As Shuri got ready she focused on how amazing her life would be once she was free from the painful intricacies of the pack and the towering threat of her cousin Erik.

The rest of the day was unassuming. Or as unassuming as it could be in light of the fact that Shuri spent the bulk of it actively trying to avoid running into Erik. Since her mother had packed the day with multiple events designed to bring the ummated omegas in contact with prospective alphas, that meant Shuri spent the day unintentionally riling her mother. She didn’t understand why her mother insisted she be there for boring rounds of croquet or sit through another shared meal that was bound to be awkward with a lone beta brooding among all the happy chattering alphas and omegas.

Risking her mother’s wrath was not as intimidating as risking being pinned under Erik’s ever searching and consuming dark gaze. Just one more night, the most important of the gathering, and come morning he would be on his way along with all of their guests.

The sun was just beginning to dip behind the horizon when Shuri’s mother finally managed to track her down. She had Shuri’s father in tow when they came upon her in the pool house, tucked in one of the bedroom closets hunched over a handheld video game.

Shuri ducked her head, feeling guilty even though it wasn’t her intent to disobey her parents or their traditions. Her father’s good mood let her believe that they weren’t seeking Shuri out but had stumbled upon her. She didn’t want to think of why her parents were out in the pool house when they should be tending to their guests and preparing for the ritual that was only a couple of hours away.

Her parents were very much in love and still behaved like infatuated teens when they thought no one was looking. They were probably going to use the pool house as an impromptu trysting spot but heard her moving around in the closet and decided to investigate.

Before her mother could begin in about her missing for the greater part of the day, Shuri launched herself up and wrapped her arms about her father, planning on using every emotional manipulation tactic in her arsenal to get him to grant her permission to not attend the ritual.

“Daddy, please can I sit out the moon, just this one time?” She hadn’t called her father daddy since she was ten. She caught her mother rolling her eyes but squeezed her father tighter, willing to embarrass herself if it got her what she wanted.

“It’s important that we adhere to tradition, Shuri. It’s what keeps this pack strong. You know this.”

“But I’m not going to participate in a moon ritual. Having me there seems pointless. Please. Please.” She put as much whine into her pleading as she could.

“There will be plenty of others who aren’t participating in the ritual. You won’t be alone. Or, is there another reason you want to hide away?”

Shuri could never bring herself to speak openly about her cousin. If she kept quiet she wouldn’t have to hear her parents chide her for rejecting what was likely the only alpha who would ever take interest in her. As it stood, Erik hadn’t declared an official intent to mate her but if Shuri brought it up to her parents she suspected it would make it all more tangible.

She shook her head against her father’s chest, giving him a quick squeeze before stepping away. So much for that avenue of escape.

Her mother escorted her back to her room and waited while she dressed, a patient sentinel making sure Shuri didn’t slip off to another hiding spot and shirk her duties. Another white dress, this time no shoes because all eligible omegas must take part in the ritual barefoot. Even though Shuri’s clearly not an omega she’s still eligible even if no one will have her. Her dress was long, as were those of the omegas lined up at the edge of the thick line of trees that led to the sizable forest spanning a sizable chunk of her father’s property. Long enough to make running difficult because come on, the alphas don’t really want to work at catching the soon to be running prey.

Once an alpha caught up to the omega he wanted to claim, he did just that, right on the forest floor. Savages. If more than one alpha had set his sight on an omega then the alphas fought until the last one standing was able to claim the prize. Of course, these events rarely ended in fighting as it was settled beforehand who would have who. No one wanted to fight to the death when they could just choose an omega that wasn’t spoken for yet. One was as good as the other.

The omegas raced into the dark woods, a pack of giggling excitement, and the young alphas followed not soon after, all eager smiles and flexing muscles. Shuri wanted to gag.

Small tables and seating were set up near the house as those already mated or not participating amused themselves with food, drinks, and conversation as they waited for the mating ritual to finish. Some of the newly mated couples wouldn’t exit the forest until daybreak but long before then those waiting would find their own beds.

Shuri found a table tucked conveniently next to a young tree, providing just the right amount of coverage to keep her off the radar of most of the pack but would seem like she was completely hiding should her mother try to find her. She had a plate loaded with finger food and a second with a few samples of deserts. All she needed was one of those bubble glasses of champagne or two and she would be fully stocked to wait out her purgatory until she could slink back to her bedroom. The problem was the table holding the booze was too close to Erik’s parents for her comfort. She sighed, so tempting but not worth it in the end.

She pushed a pastry across her plate, her eyes snapping up when a glass of champagne appeared next to the plate clinking the edge softly. Erik slid in the seat across from her, lifting his glass in a silent salute before taking a sip.

Shuri narrowed her eyes. She pushed the glass across the table.

“I’m not drinking anything from you.”

“Why? Think I spiked it?” It didn’t take much to draw that sardonic smirk out. He finished off his drink in one gulp before switching it out for the glass she turned down.

She hoped the look she gave him spoke ‘duh’ as clearly as it resonated in her soul. It must have because his smirk deepened, drawing out a dimple.

“I’m not the villain you want me to be.”

Shuri felt bolder with the pack around. This wasn’t a lonely wine cellar where he could get away with doing whatever he pleased. There was no elder close enough to hear their conversation either, so she didn’t have to fear being called to task for the disrespect she felt compelled to dish out.

“I _want_ you to be a villain? I think being a villain comes naturally to you. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to leave me alone.”

Was it her imagination or did he drink from ‘her’ glass with greater care? His lips lingered at the edge for seconds longer than needed, fingers and palm holding the glass almost tenderly.

“Bullshit.” His eyes twinkled with amusement. Shuri growled quietly. Not very beta of her but Erik had a way of drawing out unusual reactions.

“Bullshit?”

“What else?”

Shuri’s mouth opened and closed as she fought to find words to counter the steadfast craziness of his response.

“I think you’re too chicken to admit what you really want. I think you’ve lived so long trying to be the perfect omega daughter that you have no idea how to be a beta.”

She still couldn’t reply, now stuttering over something, anything to counter his outlandish assumption.

“I think you want me to go all alpha. Take what you act like you’re not willing to give, so you can keep a clear conscience.”

“I think you’re clueless about me.” She finally managed to say.

Erik set his glass down and put his forearms on the table, leaning forward just a bit, but it felt as if he was just a breath away now, the light from the candle centerpiece flickering in his brown eyes.

“Why don’t you set me straight then? Tell me my nose is lying when it smells your _excitement_ anytime I barely touch you.”

Shuri scoffed, eyes rolling and blinking rapidly as she fought to control her increasing heart rate. She didn’t bother refuting his observation. That was part of the reason she was so afraid of him. He could make her feel things she didn’t understand or want. Being a demi-human meant she couldn’t lie to him about her response.

“An involuntary reaction to stimuli. Anyone would respond the same way. It’s science, not lust.”

Erik snorted, leaning back off the table. Shuri continued on, gaining more confidence. “I’m sure I’d react the same way with anyone.” Of course, she would. Her reaction to Erik’s unwanted attention was purely biological and as soon as she got on campus she was going to prove that point.

She knew that her words could be perceived as provocation to an alpha but she didn’t back down. Lifted her chin a notch and stared at him dead on.

The plains of his face relaxed. An odd reaction when she was expecting aggression or at the least him digging his heels in on the subject. He did neither but instead surprised her by reaching under the table and setting a full bottle of champagne up, filling both glasses in front of him more than halfway full. He spoke as he filled, paying close attention to what he was doing.

“Your problem is you’re so certain you know everything that you end up missing all the important details.” He moved the bottle to the second flute. “You’re torn between what you’ve been taught to be and what you really are. Betas can freely indulge where omegas cannot.”

Once he was finished filling the flutes he slid one over to her.

“I’m not sure I understand.” Shuri played with the stem of the glass, her fingertip dancing a pattern around its base.

“You’re free. You don’t have the same constraints that omegas or even alphas have. You’re not controlled by your designation. Not heats, no ruts. You have complete control, therefore you’re free in ways I can’t even be.”

It felt like she was rocked back onto her heels, not quite toppled over but taken aback by the weight of his words. He thought she was freer than he was. In the silence that followed Shuri sipped at the champagne, mulling over his words. There was no hint of mockery in his voice. She didn’t want to process the faint bitterness she detected there, a misty resentment. It forced her to look at him differently if only for the brief moments they sat at the table in a strange half truce. Shuri, curious in ways she’d never been before, interested to hear him expand on this not thought of revelation.

“You’re the alpha son of a multi-million dollar cache of generational wealth and you say I’m somehow freer than you are? Make it make sense.”

“Sure,” with causal grace he refilled her glass and then his own. “You’re the beta daughter of our pack’s alpha, and you’re sitting on a nice cache of generational wealth yourself. Billions. Granted, T’challa will inherit most of it but your share won’t be anything to laugh at. Add to that you’re beta and it’s a pretty privileged combination. None of the restrictions that omegas must endure, even the so-called liberal woke world outside of the pack has laws that apply only to omegas and alphas. You can go anywhere you want, do anything you want. How is that not a come up?”

There were laws that applied to only omegas and alphas. Alphas were restricted from certain professions because they were deemed too aggressive. Outside of the pack alphas had few rights when it came to their offspring. There was more than that and the laws that targeted omegas were throwbacks from a time when the majority of society still lived in packs. Omegas had curfews, for their own protection of course and there weren’t many omegas serving in politics because even the liberal-minded quietly believed omegas were too emotionally unstable to govern.

Shuri’s designation already put her leagues ahead of omegas in the context of liberties but add her family’s wealth and Erik succeeded in making her feel a little ashamed about some of her self-pitying thoughts.

“Fair enough. But,” she added when his face lit at her concession. “Don’t act like alphas aren’t running things. Your kind makes the laws. If a bunch of alphas got together and decided that alphas shouldn’t be granted access to certain spaces that says a hell of a lot about your designation, doesn’t it? Could it be predatory tendencies, perhaps? Inability to resist that hind-brain instinct to hunt and kill.”

His brows scrunched and his lips twisted into a perturbed tilt, wiping years off his face and making him look like a youth.

“Aw, come on. Predatory? That’s over the top don’t you think?”

“Understatement of the year.” Shuri sipped. The offended look he now wore made him look more harmless than predatory.

“Being attracted to someone makes me a predator?”

Shuri scoffed. “If you can’t see how sketchy your behavior has been _since we were kids,_ there’s nothing I can say to make you understand. It must be a flaw of your designation. Alphas are assholes.”

She took another swig to the surety of her last words. Alphas were assholes. At least this one was.

“Assholes can be fun.”

Shuri was near ecstatic at his admission. Champagne sloshed over the lip of her glass as she directed her pointer finger around the glass and right at him. “You _know_ you’re an asshole.”

Instead of refuting or clarifying her accusation he just gave her that maddening smirk, all white teeth, and full lips. When she brought her glass to her lips she found she was unconsciously smiling back at him.

At that moment, for the first time in forever, she wasn’t afraid of him. He seemed something other than the frightening and imposing alpha who put her on guard from the time she was barely a teen and first sensed his interest in her. He was simply amusing and harmless and if she was honest, the combination made him irresistibly handsome.

He poured the remaining champagne in her glass and somewhere underneath the growing haze the beverage caused, Shuri knew she shouldn’t have anymore. She’d never sneaked more than a glass of wine whenever her parents had bottles opened. The champagne certainly tasted much better but it had her head spinning, had her guards down, and oddities of all oddities it had her fully relaxed around someone who always put her on edge.

“You still can’t swim?”

Shuri’s eyebrows rose at his question. It was phrased like an almost taunt, totally random and unexpected considering the subject they were discussing. She couldn’t trace her aversion to submerging herself in water greater than a bathtub.

“I would have thought you’d learn by now,” he said, then added at her scoff. “Fearless beta and all.”

“Maybe I don’t want to learn because I have more interesting things to pursue. It’s not about fear.”

“Prove it.”

“Prove it?”

“Yeah, right now. There’s a pool here, right? Unless you’re afraid.”


	5. Chapter 5

Shuri woke up with a muffled groan, her face half pressed into the soft confines of a pillow. Her arms were wrapped around the pillow, one knee sprawled up as she lay on her belly. A sense of unnatural disorientation crept upon her as sleep faded. She extended her arms up and her legs down, flexing her toes in a ritual stretch that brought more discomfort than ease. When she shifted to her side and opened her eyes it wasn’t her brightly decorated room that greeted her. She studied the stark white sheets that were supposed to be aquamarine.

It took her several moments to piece together that she was in a guest room. One of the many rooms her mother had decorated in her favorite style, clean contrasting colors, and polished hardwood. The white walls made the room appear even larger than it was and by anyone’s standards, it was massive for a guest room.

Confusion kept her lying still for seconds longer. She had no memory of choosing to crash in a guest room rather than go to her own bedroom. Anyway, how could she when all of the rooms in the mansion were taken by visiting pack members?

The room spun slightly when she moved to sit up, the navy blue pinstripes on the duvet swaying until she had to squeeze her eyes and hold her head to stave off bubbling nausea. She should have never drunk as much as she did.

Try as she might Shuri couldn’t recall how she ended up where she was. In fact, she couldn’t remember anything beyond flashes of a strangely relaxed conversation that felt more dreamlike than real. She laughed with...Erik and spent more than several very aware moments in his presence without having the urgent need to flee. She would never be so unguarded around him, yet it felt like more memory than dream.

It wasn’t until she rose from the bed, covers tossed back, that she realized she wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing. Her skin prickled from the cool climate-controlled air. The few steps forward she managed were slow and the soles of her feet barely lifted from the floor, dragging even as she stumbled and caught herself on the nightstand. One of three tiny potted succulents fell from the nightstand shattering on the hardwood floor.

With unsteady legs and shaky breath, Shuri reached out and pulled the duvet off of the bed to shroud herself in it. A deep foreboding settled as the weight wrapped around her shoulders. She made the mistake of getting drunk and the last person she could remember being with was an obsessed alpha who made it no secret that he had no scruples where she was concerned. Now she was naked, alone in a room not her own, one that had a faint scent of _alpha_ , and with troubling gaps in her memory.

When she crept through the door it was to find she was in the wing of the mansion where the alpha guests were kept. It was quiet, likely still early morning. She walked with stiff halted steps as she tried to fight dizziness and dread. If she could just make it to her room she could sort this all out.

The sanctuary of her room would somehow make waking up naked in what was...no, she wouldn’t think about it. That couldn’t have been Erik’s room. Even if the pillows had smelled distinctly of him.

The morning after a moon ritual meant most were still in bed. No one would dare to get up before noon after spending the night celebrating the recently mated couples. Those couples were still in the woods sleeping or just now waking up to find their way back to the mansion.

Everyone would leave later today. The newly mated alphas eager to take their omegas homes so they could be sequestered until their bonds cemented.

All Shuri had to do was make it to her room and wait. Erik would be gone soon and she would have plenty of time to decide whether she wanted to try to remember what happened last night. There was a heaviness that pulled at her mind and limbs that made her think that perhaps she hadn’t slept off the full effects of the champagne.

It lingered even after she made it to her room, quickly discarding the duvet to hop into the shower, water colder than she normally liked it. The biting rivulets did nothing to make her more alert or feel less like her brain and limbs were still entangled in cotton.

Her body felt numb as she rubbed a soapy washcloth over her limbs. Once she was satisfied that she’d cleaned every inch of herself, she rinsed, hung up the washcloth, and exited the shower. There was no steam to fog the mirror over the sink so when she stood in front of it as she wrapped a towel around her chest she was so startled by the sight of herself that the towel nearly slipped from her fingers.

Clutching the towel with one hand, the other reached up to her neck where an angry looking bite marred the column of her neck. Gingerly, she skimmed the jagged punctures, four red healing marks with a bruise of blunted teeth that hadn’t broken skin making two parallel purpling crescents. The contact should have hurt but instead of the anticipated sting, Shuri only experienced numbness.

Disbelief kept her locked in front of the mirror staring in horror at the wound placed intentionally over a non-existent mating gland. She knew then, even without clear memories, what happen last night. _He’d done it._ He’d finally done what she’d feared he’d do for so very long.

Tears welled, threatening to spill over. Shuri wallowed in self-pity for several minutes, thoughts of a life caged, trapped, with Erik crushing all hope of a life outside of the pack. But she was never one to accept what others said couldn’t be.

She ran the back of her hand across each eye then went to work covering the mark with a bandage from the first-aid kit under her bathroom sink. Next she hurriedly went through her clothes until she found a top that would cover her neck without seeming inappropriate for the season. A high neck shoulder-less number that her mother had bought her but Shuri had never worn.

She arranged her hair so that half was up and the other half was loose, spread down the front of each shoulder to further camouflaging her neck. The look was completed with skinny jeans and sandals. Once she was dressed some of her anxiety waned but she still had a larger problem to face. Covering the mark wouldn’t erase what Erik had done and he was unlikely to back down on his claim no matter how vehemently she denied what she couldn’t remember actually happening.

But as long as she kept the mark hidden it would be his word against hers and no one would dare lay a hand on her to force her to show her neck. If she were an omega it would not only be one of the first things she would be required to do but her scent would also give away what had occurred between her and Erik. When an alpha injected his pheromones into an omega’s mating gland it changed the omega in several ways. Her scent would be irrecoverably altered and would reflect the alpha who’d taken her.

Shuri was a beta, her nose wasn’t as sensitive as alphas or omegas, so she’d never been able to easily discern a person’s designation by smell alone. She couldn’t smell herself either. Not unless she used a perfumed soap or had a particularly grueling day in the gym.

She wasn’t an omega. She was safe. She was safe. It was her word against his.

She sat on the bed, scrunching her eyes shut. _What happened last night?_ Her last memory involved sitting at a table with Erik in clear view of others. He didn’t have an opportunity to try anything. She watched him drink from the same bottle he poured her drinks from. If he drugged it then he drugged himself as well. The most probable answer was the most obvious. She’d underestimated her ability to handle more than her usual single glass and Erik, opportunist that he was took advantage.

Three quick knocks on her door, although softly delivered was like a cannon firing off to her ears, startling Shuri enough that she jerked. She was forced to abandon her fretting over the specifics of what happened last night to focus on the now and what she could prevent from happening. Whoever was on the other side of her door waited patiently for her to answer which meant it couldn’t be her parents or Erik. Her mother had the habit of knocking only as an announcement that she was about to enter and her father never came to her room but rather had Shuri summoned to him. Somehow she suspected that Erik wouldn’t knock, especially after last night.

Nervous fingers pulled the collar of her shirt higher before smoothing non-existent wrinkles down her torso. She opened the door on a deep inhale, fighting to appear unaffected. _Act normal._

“Good morning.” Ayo smiled brightly. “Great, you’re dressed. Your mother wants you to join her for breakfast. I wouldn’t try to get out of it. I’ll give you fair warning. She’s on a warpath this morning.”

Shuri’s mind immediately went to visions of Erik explaining to her parents that he’d mated her and she’d refused to stay put in his bed like the obedient little omega they all knew she wasn’t. That would be enough to rev the wrath of Ramonda, but she wouldn’t send a servant to fetch Shuri under those circumstances. She’d make a personal appearance and drag Shuri out herself. No, there was something else that had set her mother off this morning when she should be glowing with pride that her eldest had finally taken a mate and would soon fill their house with grandchildren for her to dote on.

Shuri made her way to the sunroom, just off of the kitchen, where her parents like to have breakfast. Eight large curtain-less windows formed a v surrounded by moss green stone that covered the floor and spaces between each window. It was the sunroom but the little table and all the furnishing were constructed of wood so dark as to appear black, muting the bright sunlight. There were little touches of Africa represented by a priceless handcrafted vase with warriors painted around it and a couple of tribal masks hung on the stone walls. This was her father’s favorite place to have a cup of tea and read his paper. He sat across from her mother doing just that, glancing up to smile and wink when Shuri arrived.

True to Ayo’s warning, Ramonda’s beautiful face was pinched into a frown even as she guided her fork into her mouth. Her glare was directed at T’chaka but it slipped away to neutrality when she looked at Shuri.

“Good morning dad, mother.” Shuri sat, grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl in the center of the table. She wasn’t hungry but she needed something to do with her hands because she wanted to wring them nervously as she waited for the ball to drop.

“Good morning, sweetheart. How did you sleep?” her father asked.

“Fine.” Shuri hastily bit into the peeled banana.

T’chaka hummed and turned his attention back to his paper.

Shuri cleared her throat, an impulsive plan forming. She spoke before she could give room to fear or reason, the burning desire to run and hide making it difficult to swallow. “I was thinking since the moon is over, maybe now would be a good time for me to check out campus more thoroughly. Before all the students arrive for the fall. I could take a week to find an apartment and furnish it. That way I don’t have to rush or miss out on finding a place close to campus.”

Her words wanted to spill out but she forced herself to speak calmly like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Ramonda sucked her teeth and let out a long huff. “It’s bad enough your brother wants to set up his mate outside of this house and now you want to leave months before school officially opens? I told you this was not going to go the way you thought T’chaka.”

Shuri’s eyes widened at her mother’s overdramatic reveal that T’challa wasn’t going to live with his new mate in the house he’d grown up in as tradition dictated. No wonder her mother was in such a snit.

“Dear, you’re getting worked up over nothing. T’challa and Nakia will be just a couple of hours away and I think it’s a fine idea that Shuri get situated on campus before her classes start. We can send Ayo with her.”

“Worked up over nothing? Our son is breaking tradition. It’s my right as his mother to enjoy the presence of my new daughter, not from a distance like some stranger. Who will help with the children when they come? Surely not a nanny? And Shuri has already done enough to disrupt the order of this pack. Now she leaves early too? I won’t be getting grandchildren from her and you want to take away the only opportunity I’ll have to be around any.”

Seeing how clearly worked up his wife was, T’chaka abandoned his newspaper, got up from his seat and stood behind Ramonda, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Her mother sat stiffly proud, still pouting but her features softening ever so slightly.

“I for one am eager to have the house to ourselves.” T’chaka nuzzled his wife’s neck. “We can take an extended trip to Barbados. Get you some new bathing suits. Maybe visit the ski lodge too.”

Shuri could see her mother’s ire melting away in the magical way it did whenever her father made it his purpose to change her mood. She rolled her eyes when her mother eventually giggled like an omega half her age and turned to kiss T’chaka on his cheek.

Mission accomplished, T’chaka returned to his seat and resumed reading his paper. Shuri took another bite of her banana, a little dazed that her father had agreed so easily to her leaving for a week. She resisted the urge to run up to her room and pack so she could leave immediately. Once she got on campus, far away from the oppressive reach of the pack, she had no intention of coming back. She’d figure it out once she was gone. A job, financial aid, maybe she’d qualify for assistance of some sort. Anything besides relying on her parents to finance her education. She needed to completely break from the pack much sooner than she’d anticipated.

As long as she was dependent on her parents’ money she’d be at the mercy of pack traditions and whims. She needed more than just her beta designation to be free. If Erik said anything…

_Don’t think about it. Just get away and figure out the rest later._

“You look lovely in that top. Did I pick that out?”

Shuri answered her mother and then joined her parents in a superficial conversation about their last family trip to Barbados. It eased her mind, but not fully. She didn’t believe she’d relax until she was well on her way to her university, closer to the life she wanted to live.

She had more hope now than when she’d first woken up. There was a way out of the mess of last night, she just how to avoid Erik long enough to get on the road. Her parents might think it a little strange that she wanted to leave immediately but they’d chalk it up to Shuri’s youth and designation.

Her father was placating her mother with promises of extravagant trips and her absolute favorite thing in the world, jewelry.

“That reminds me. The pool boy found this in the pool this morning.” Ramonda fished into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a stunning bracelet of large black pearls. “You should be more careful with your things.”

Shuri tried to hide her reaction behind a sip of orange juice then ended in a cough as she palmed the pearls. “Yes, mother. I’ll put them away.” It was a great excuse so she could flee to her room and start packing.

No sooner had she stood to leave before a voice from behind caused her to freeze in her tracks.

“Going somewhere?”

oOo

If time could stand still it would have. It did. Shuri felt like all the minutes in her years of existing gathered together to dance on the needle fine tip of that moment. Locked on the edge, to move in any direction was to fall off and crash towards destruction.

Her breath came shallow and fast, then slowed as she forced it to, but gone was all pretense of normalcy. The deep timbre of Erik’s words caused a trembling that while it may have been undetectable to all others, she could not force to stop.

She couldn’t turn around, but she knew she had to. When she did it was to see that it wasn’t just Erik but his mother and father as well. N’Jobu looked at her with kind, almost pitying eyes while Chandra made no attempt to hide her good mood, smiling brightly at Shuri.

“Good morning, everyone. Please join us. Shuri’s probably just eager to pack. She’s going apartment hunting in preparation for when her classes start,” T’chaka said.

Erik raised his brows at Shuri, never taking his eyes away. Her knees felt weak, like they’d give out at any moment. Unlike his father, there was no kindness or pity in Erik’s eyes. Only flinty resolve. In that breath of time she knew that there would be no escape. At least not now. She could see the lines around his mouth tighten as he considered her attempt to flee.

Gone was the strange Erik who, along with a bottle of champagne, caused her guard to drop enough to laugh with him and enjoy his presence. That Erik had felt safe, so un-alpha like. But the alpha was back and he was upset that she planned to escape.

If she ran he would chase her. Likely catch her. Running was also not a good look for parents that she was going to try to convince that nothing had happened between Erik and her. Ramonda moved to a nearby island to pour glasses of orange juice for their guests.

“She didn’t tell you then?” Erik kept penetrating brown eyes locked on Shuri.

“Tell us what?” her father asked.

It was a misguided hope but Shuri quietly mouthed ‘don’t’, to which Erik rolled his eyes away from her to her parents.

“Last night she gave herself to me. We’re mated.”

With those words, the floor dropped from beneath her. It wasn’t true. The suddenly itchy mark on her neck screamed that it was in fact true but Shuri was overcome by self-preservation. Panic took hold when she meant to stay calm and collected.

“He’s lying. I would never.” Her voice sounded frantic to her own ears.

But maybe she had. There was no memory she could stir up to prove otherwise.

Her father had risen when their guests came in and Shuri watched as he sat back down slowly, his eyes going to Shuri, looking just as shocked as she felt. Her mother had abandoned the juice pitcher to place a hand on her chest as if to take hold of whatever emotion Erik’s declaration had invoked.

“This is a serious claim,” her father finally said. “One that cannot be easily proven given my daughter is not an omega.”

Shuri’s heart swelled with hope.

“I know this must be quite the surprise, I admit it came as a shock to us as well but I assure you Erik is telling the truth.” N’Jobu’s voice was soft but there was an undercurrent of steel, clearly not liking the implication that his son was a liar.

“He’s lying, Daddy. He-” Her words were halted by a single raised hand from her father. This was a conversation for the two ranking alphas in the room and no matter how she wanted to escape the confines of the pack and was those confines that might just save her so she closed her mouth and waited.

“I haven’t been blind to Erik’s interest in Shuri. She has not shown even a scrap of the same yet he continues to dog her steps. Truthfully, I hoped she would take to him but she hasn’t. Now on the eve of her departure your son wants me to believe my daughter has suddenly had a lightning-fast and unprecedented change of heart?”

“They are young, T’chaka. A woman is known to change her mind, even one who isn’t an omega.”

“Shuri is more stubborn than most. I think it’s highly unlikely that she’s changed her mind. And if they are mated, I’m inclined to believe your son forced her into it.” T’chaka stood and made his way to Erik, radiating quietly boiling anger and power despite his advanced years.

“You can’t rape the willing.” Erik’s flippant words earned him the rebuke of T’chaka’s hand closing around his throat, pushing him back and down into the kitchen island. It happened fast, cups and glass crashed to the floor in a fit of snarls and growls.

“Watch how you speak, pup. If she tells me you forced her I end you right here and now.”

This was a side of T’chaka Shuri had never seen. Her gentle and soft-spoken father was almost unrecognizable, his face contorted with emotion. This was the head alpha that ruled their pack. She believed not only that he would keep his word and kill Erik if she spoke the words but she also believed he was more than capable of physically subduing the younger man.

All she had to do was say Erik had forced her and this nightmare would be over.

“Shuri.” Her mother’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “Tell your father the truth.”

“I-I...” Her eyes bounced between all the faces in the room, avoiding Erik’s. She could finally be free of him, once and for all. All she had to do was lie.

But she couldn’t. Not even as a sure-fire way to escape his ever grasping clutches. She couldn’t have his death on her shoulders or the resulting fallout within the pack she longed to leave.

“I-I don’t remember. I drank too much champagne. I don’t remember.”

The truth tasted like dry paint in her mouth, pieces flaking and chipping off to almost seal her lips shut. It was truly a shame she couldn’t part with her innate sense of honor. Her father eased off of Erik but had yet to look her way.

“You heard her. She doesn’t remember.” Erik said. “But I do.”

“Not remembering doesn’t mean your version of things is the truth,” she snapped at him.

“It also doesn’t mean my son is guilty of nefarious acts by default.” N’Jobu directed at T’chaka, earning Erik’s release from the alpha’s hold. T’chaka stood back and both men pulled their shirts down as if straightening them would regain some measure of civility.

“True. So how do we settle this? Shuri says she can’t remember and Erik...well.” T’chaka’s implication hung in the air. Erik couldn’t be trusted not to lie to get what he wanted. Why in the hell had it taken her father this long to express this sentiment? How long had he felt this way? It made Shuri wonder why he hadn’t protected her more regarding Erik if he didn’t trust him not to be manipulative concerning her.

“It should be simple enough,” her mother said.

Simple enough turned out to be pulling the previous night’s security footage. In her father’s study, the six of them spread out across the spacious room to watch the flat screen that was revealed from its place behind a hidden panel of dark wood. Everything her parents procured was of the best quality and the security cameras that littered the property were no different. There was nothing grainy about the high definition images sectioned off in cubes across the screen. Different angles that showed not just the majestic pool that had taken weeks to put in, but also where Erik and Shuri’s little drama had begun, a somewhat secluded table holding up their glasses and that cursed bottle of champagne.

The images lacked sound and were all the more damning in Shuri’s eyes as she watched herself willingly accept glass after glass of drink. In horror she watched as she slowly unfurled like a tightly wound flower facing the morning light, first scowling but eventually laughing and smiling at Erik. The entire time he watched her with undisguised adoration. How different things looked on screen versus in the moment.

They rose from the table together and left the view of the camera only to appear on another. Her heart was like a steel drum, beating loudly and metallic. She watched herself follow Erik, watched as he lead them to the pool and there she was ambling along, not even a hint of coercion from her hated cousin.

Her eyes were glued to the scene, as were everyone present. Fear of what was to come caused her to flinch when Erik stopped in front of the pool and turned to face her. Although she couldn’t remember what happened that night, what played out on the screen rang of truth not even she could deny. No matter how strange it all was.

He took her hand and words passed between them, words only Erik would be privy to in the aftermath. Words that must have held some sort of power or spell because to her shame and infinite embarrassment Shuri watched as she turned her back to Erik and proceeded to strip until she wore nothing but white bikini brief panties and a matching white bra. He watched her, hell, they all now watched her bare her body before lowering herself into the water. Erik stood over her as she held onto the pool wall. More unheard words were exchanged, then he stripped and while the ‘Shuri’ in the pool didn’t look away, staring boldly at Erik’s form, Shuri’s eyes looked anywhere but at the chiseled muscles that covered every inch of him.

A few beats later she looked back at the screen. Erik glided through the water while she continued to hold onto the pool wall, moving closer to the lit waterfall where the water wasn’t so high. It felt like a lucid dream, watching a scene involving her that she had no memory of. As far as Shuri was concerned it wasn’t her in nothing but her underwear skinny dipping with Erik who was completely nude and swimming as if he didn’t have a care in the world. It was someone else. Someone wild and reckless and incredibly stupid to walk willingly into the jaws of a feral jaguar.

Her father’s study faded away until there was nothing left but the images on the screen and the presence of Erik in the room with her, the heat of his eyes cut over to her every so often as if to gauge her reaction to what was transpiring.

He swam closer to her with each lap in took, teasing and calculated.

“ _It’s not as hard as you think.”_

“ _And how would you know what I think? I never said I thought it was hard. I said I had better things to do.”_

“ _I think you have a habit of running from true challenges. It’s why you’re so old and still can’t swim.”_

Shuri blinked. Erik swam to her side and stayed. Whatever he said next caused her to throw her head back and laugh and he inched closer until they were nearly chest to chest. She froze but made no move to put distance between them.

“ _Shuri, you’re the single most fascinating event to happen in this universe. I’ve never met anyone like you and it feels like I never will. I’ve tried, I swear I have.”_

It had to be more than the champagne that lowered her inhibitions so dangerously. She’d feared Erik most of her life, had tried to never be left alone with him. What had he said to her? What had she said to him? Why would she allow him to caress her face with a gentleness that was at odds with what she knew of him?

The kiss that followed must have shocked her motionless. That was a plausible excuse why she let his mouth linger for so long but she couldn’t come up with another when she watched herself wrap her arms around his broad shoulders and draw him deeper into that kiss. Her hand cupped the back of his head and even with the curtain of water concealing their lower half, she could see her legs wrap around his naked hips.

She clung to him like she truly was drowning and he devoured her mouth like he was at the bottom of the ocean and her lips held each breath he needed to survive. It was too much. Heat rose up and it wasn’t just from the steady stream of embarrassment let loose the moment the security footage began flowing. For all the world they looked like two lovers caught in the heat of passion, not two adversaries, one the hunter, the other the hunted.

They moved in the water, one body, Erik steering the ship to the shelter of the large rocks that made the waterfall and led to a mini grotto. That is where they disappeared and T’chaka had to fast forward quite a bit of time before they reemerged, Erik still holding Shuri in his arms, her legs dangling limply when he pulled them both from the pool.

Shuri turned her back to the screen, utterly mortified, when she spotted the reason Erik carried her in that manner. She still wore her panties but the thin white material was pushed to the side to make room for that part of him that was locked unmistakably inside of her. Her hands flew to her face to cover her shame like she could vanish as quickly from sight as everything else did with her eyes covered.

The room was silent and she imagined they all waited for some acknowledgment from her but Shuri was in too much shock and panic to do anything.

There would be no disputing what they had all witnessed, even if she couldn’t remember any of it. No need to show the throbbing mating mark on her beta neck. The video damned her but this was Erik and in her core, she felt that the video was a lie. Even intoxicated she wouldn’t have freely given herself to him. There was more to this story, she just knew it.

But despite her feelings, despite her instincts, Erik had well and truly caught her and there was nothing she could say or do to change that fact.


	6. Chapter 6

There was no opportunity for escape. Erik’s parents stayed by her side from the viewing of the security footage in her father’s study to the very moment she was ushered in dazed resistance into their car to make the trek to the airport where their private jet awaited.

Her parents spoke with Erik privately before they left. Erik’s parents attempted to draw her into a conversation but all Shuri could do was stare blankly at nothing in particular as she tried to come to grips with what was unfolding.

It all happened so quickly that she was well on her way to the airport before she realized she hadn’t been given the chance to say goodbye to T’challa. To her credit she remained mostly composed the entire car ride, entirely resisting the urge to jump out of the moving vehicle and run off into the distance. It was only when she thought of her brother that her eyes filled with moisture. They knew T’challa wouldn’t stand for Erik taking her as his mate. They knew her brother wouldn’t allow it so they rushed her off, likely not even notifying him of what had happened for fear of his reaction.

He’d be told eventually but by then it would be too late. She’d be on the other side of the country in Erik’s territory where his and his father’s word was law.

She had only one bag of luggage, packed hastily by Ayo no doubt. Omegas didn’t take much of their old life into their new. It was an alpha’s responsibility and honor to provide his omega with all she needed. One bag was customary. However, none of what had occurred was customary. Alphas didn’t mate betas. The powerful parents of an alpha heir wouldn’t be as ecstatic as Erik’s parents were at the outcome of their only child mating a beta. They should want a perfect omega for their son but it was evident on their faces they were pleased with the union.

Erik had the decency to keep his mouth shut during their ride. He sat next to her but Shuri scooted away as far as the seat would allow, her shoulder pressed against the door. The drive to the airport was long enough to allow Shuri to get lost in thoughts of last night turning out any number of ways that didn’t end in the present results. She stared out the window but she didn’t see the scenery zipping past. She saw herself sneaking off to her room to hide until the ritual was over, effectively thwarting Erik’s plan to get her drunk and take advantage. She saw herself heading off to college to live the life she was always meant to live. She imagined a lot of things and none of them involved the manipulative alpha sitting next to her.

When the car stopped she was yanked back into reality and the suffocating weight of what awaited her returned full force. Erik had won. He was going to take everything from her and leave her with nothing left, not even herself.

N’Jobu exited the car first, reaching a hand out to help his wife. He then reached to assist Shuri but all she could do was stare at his hand, real fear freezing her in place. If she left the car she was closer to boarding the private jet that loomed nearby. Logic fled in the face of fear.

“We’ll be out in a minute,” Erik told his father, sending him off to the jet.

She still couldn’t look at him, didn’t want to see that smug smirk of victory creasing his handsome face. She hated him. Hated him with everything within her.

“You can’t stay in here.”

Shuri knew that. The lump in her throat prevented the words she wanted to say to him. _I hate you._

“You’re acting like a petulant omega.”

Her head whipped to the side to face him. There was no smug smirk waiting for her. The lines of his face were tight with a seriousness she’d rarely seen from him.

“Why?” She didn’t need to elaborate on that one word that felt choked from within her. She could feel the tears gathering and watched as his face grew harder, more determined.

He opened his mouth then closed it again as if he thought better of the words he was about to say.

“You can get on that plane willingly or you can embarrass yourself by having me carry you on it. The choice is yours, princess.”

Him touching her was out of the question so she climbed out of the car with no further hesitation. Her legs were wobbly and the tears that pooled in her eyes spilled over, but she made her way to the jet, Erik following close behind.

She sat in the first available seat which was blessedly isolated. No one bothered her once she was buckled in. Shuri gave in and cried quietly as the jet took to the air to take her to her new home.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the edit. My editing software isn't working. I will go back and correct later.

_It never rained in California._

Except it did. Well it did twenty minutes before they landed. It continued throughout the landing and through unboarding. The rain heavy and steady. A parallel to the unconquerable obsession of her mate.

Her mate.

How strange was that? There was no doubt about what they were to each other after the humiliation of reviewing the surveillance videos. If Shuri were honest with herself she would admit that seeing it play out across a screen was unnecessary when the proof of his claim caused her flesh to ache now that hours had passed since waking. She suspected that at some point during the night he had given her pain meds to numb the effects of what he had done. Either that or shock kept her blessedly without feeling until just before landing.

When feeling returned it did with a vengeance. It wasn’t just the bite on her neck that flamed with throbbing heat. Her hips hurt where he had likely gripped her. The pain between her legs was a wholly new feeling for Shuri, making her aware of internal aspects of her anatomy that she had yet been unaware of. She ached in a maddening way that reminded her of his musing that betas weren’t really meant to take alphas the way omegas did. It wasn’t excruciating but she imagined it had to have been at the time, no matter how willing he claimed she was.

She pointedly ignored Erik and even his parents as she steeled herself to get off the plane without giving away just how much pain she was in. Sympathy from her jailers was the last thing she wanted. She didn’t want any acknowledgement of what she’d been through. N’Jobu and Chandra exited first and Erik stood at the plane’s door waiting patiently for her to make her way to it.

She wouldn’t meet his eyes but she could feel his locked on her face. She gripped the rail on her way down, praying not to stagger or trip. When she reached the bottom her eyes were wet with unshed tears from her effort. She hated him. Nurturing that feeling she tried to focus more on how much she hated Erik rather than the ache of her body. When he tried to hold her elbow as she walked to the waiting car, she snatched away from his fingers and turned to give him a scathing look.

The ride to their family compound wasn’t as silent as the plane ride. N’Jobu and Chandra quietly chatted, voices low as if speaking any louder than a hush would set off Shuri. Shuri closed her eyes and rested her head against the window, pretending to sleep when she couldn’t escape them with that brief respite. With closed eyes she was wide awake, her mind burning bright with too many emotions to take hold of just one.

It wasn’t until they reached their destination that anyone spoke to her. Once again Erik’s parents led the way and Shuri was the last to get out of the vehicle. This time he didn’t have to threaten her to follow but he made good on his promise to carry her, scooping her into his arms without any warning.

The easy strength with which he held her was alarming. Solid muscles barely flexed as he moved them inside the great arching door. If she tried to break his hold on her she knew she wouldn’t be able to. Her eyes took in her surroundings.

This wasn’t her first visit to his home. When she was younger her parents brought her and T’challa twice. Most of her interactions with Erik had been at her own home but she remembered this place. When she was younger, before Erik had decided she was worthy of his attention, Shuri had fancied his home a castle. It certainly looked like one with it’s reaching towers and rough stone structure. Back then it all made perfect sense. Her handsome cousin was its prince. His doting parents the benevolent king and queen. There was even a stable where magnificent horses were kept. Her parents wouldn’t let her have a horse, not even a hamster. She’d begged her parents to visit again.

It was another two years before they did. By then Erik had noticed her as more than the annoying little sister of the future pack alpha. His home hadn’t seemed so magical after that.

Now she was back. Being carried over the threshold like a bride.

“Let me down.” It came out as a soft demand but when he paid her no mind it came out again, more forceful this time and followed by a frantic attempt to see her own way out of his arms.

When her feet touched the floor her knees nearly buckled. His hand shot out to keep her upright and she jerked away as if grazing a brand fresh from the fire.

“You’re hurting. Let me carry you to our room--”

“I’m not sharing your room with you.” The thought of being forced to cohabitate with him was bad enough. She didn’t actually expect him to acquiesce but what else could she do? All she had left was this.

“You’re welcome to any room you want, just know I’ll be carrying you there.”

His response didn’t register until he scooped her back into his arms and began walking again. He carried with a looser hold forcing Shuri to reach her arms up around this neck to alleviate the sense that she would fall and aggravate present aches. His steps were sure and purposeful, long legs taking them quicker to their destination than Shuri could have managed on her own in her current state. If her mind wasn’t so focused on the feel of him and how uneasy he made her, Shuri might have taken notice of the newly installed stained glass filtering a rainbow of light over the twisting staircase Erik climbed. She might have also noticed that while this was not the wing she remembered Erik’s rooms to reside in, there was a faint hint of his spicy scent in the hallways.

Instead she noticed the heat and softness of the skin on his neck, how his pulse jumped steady beneath her fingertips. She tried to make her eyes stare at nothing, tried to dig for the hatred and rage she knew would sustain her.

The room looked nothing like the hyper masculine abode an alpha like Erik would dwell in. It was blessedly neutral and free of any artifact that would mark it as his. He didn’t put her down until he stood over the bed, setting her down before stepping back. She sat up as quickly as she could, feeling far too vulnerable fulling prone.

“Leave.” Another expectation she didn’t think would be met. But he did leave, pausing only long enough to pin her to the bed with his eyes, some unspoken sentiment trying to break way. He shut the door behind him, leaving Shuri to suss through all the confusion coupled with relief.

oOo

Two quick knocks proceeded the door opening some time later, followed by Chandra carrying a tray holding food and drink. Shuri had been curled on her side in the bed unable to sleep but unable to get up from her spot. Her mind kept her in place more than her body. A gray cloud had settled over her, heavy and fogging clarity. After Erik left she lay in bed with her mind racing through all the awful possible scenarios that were sure to follow now that she was installed in his home.

Him coming to her when she was asleep and unaware, going beyond the sly touches he stole when they were alone in the past. Her dreams of university and freedom dashed forever because there was no way he would allow her to pursue anything that would grant her independence and to do that apart from him. A boring life filled with maneuvering his moves and desires. He’d want children. All alphas did.

And of course she thought about the event that led to them being mated and how even now she might be in the early stages of a budding pregnancy. That would be the final nail in the coffin of her autonomy. God she hoped she wasn’t pregnant but even if she wasn’t she knew that Erik wouldn’t stay away forever and she doubted he’d allow her the safety of birth control.

These were the thoughts that were in her head when Chandra came in. The mother of her enemy, not looking a bit guilty or displeased to have Shuri were she was.

She placed the tray on the nightstand beside the bed. Shuri pushed herself up against the headboard and silently watched as Chandra took the glass of water off the tray along with two white pills and stretched them out for Shuri to receive. She wasn’t about to reject the offering. Once she had swallowed the pills she held the glass close to her chest, a pathetic barrier.

“You must be pretty scared. I don’t blame you if you shun me. I know this isn’t what you wanted for your life.” Chandra’s gentle voice was a balm and a sword.

Moisture immediately filled Shuri’s eyes at Chandra’s bald assessment. She blinked furiously to keep tears from falling.

“I’m not scared. I’m—angry. He didn’t have any right to do this.”

Chandra sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, her hands in her lap.

“Erik has always been very single minded. It’s hard to sway him once he has his heart set on something and he’s had his heart set on you for a very long time.”

Heart? What heart could he possibly have to snatch her dreams and future so cruelly from her? He was just a selfish prick who thought that his status as an alpha meant he could take whatever he wanted.

“What about my heart and what I want? You’re his mother so you’re going to want what makes him happy but he doesn’t make _me_ happy. All I’ve ever wanted was to reach beyond—I just wanted to go to college and be--” She ran the back of a hand across her cheeks to dash away the tears that had escaped before she continued. “I don’t want to be defined by my use to an alpha. Now I don’t have a choice do I? His happiness means I get to be miserable.”

Chandra reached out to rub Shuri’s leg comforting. At least she looked more concerned now that Shuri had expressed a drop of what she was feeling.

“Oh, sweetheart. Erik doesn’t want you to be miserable. I know it doesn’t feel like that right now but you’ll see. I think that once you two have had some time to talk, things will start to seem a lot less gloomy.”

Talking with Erik was a sure fire way to increase gloom not lessen it. But let his mother entertain her dreams of a happily-ever-after with her son and his forced mate. She was an omega who probably thought a little trauma bonding was harmless and a fine start to a union. If Erik tried to come near Shuri to have a repeat of the previous night she was going to try her damnedest to hurt him. Chandra wouldn’t look at her so fondly after Shuri maimed her precious son.

“I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to see him at all.”

“You’re a smart girl, Shuri. You can’t pretend this all away. At some point you’ll need to reach an understanding with your mate and I will tell you from experience it’s better to face these things head on rather than allowing them to sweep you along with the currant. Erik adores you. I can see you don’t believe that but he does. He adores you but he will steamroll you and have his way in everything if you allow it. You want to go to college, well then you need to tell Erik that’s exactly what you’re going to do.” She winked and patted Shuri’s leg to punctuate her point and then stood up.

“But be prepared to make some concessions. He’s an alpha after all.” Chandra said, and then she left.

Shuri mulled her words as she ate the food on the tray, now unsure of what the future held.


End file.
